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Month: May 2009

After largely dominating in a pair of friendly games, it was time to put the Seven Soldiers of Victory through a real test in a tournament.

ROUND ONE

Opponent: PAUL

Team:

Spider-Man (Avengers)

Hercules (Secret Invasion)

Wasp (Universe Starter)

Spider-Woman (Armor Wars)

Sersi

Ant-Man (Infinity Challenge)

Hmmmm. Yes, this team was a bit more optimized than the one he’d played last night, with a great lead hitter in Herc and solid support in Sersi (TK) and Spidey (Outwit). Plus he had a themed team and picked the Avengers map. I picked the trench side with a Kinetic Accelerator special object to give me a shot at a first strike with Bulleteer and her Meteorite.

Paul use Spidey to counter Bulleteer’s Charge and thus prevent her getting to Hercules. In the meantime, I needed to get into position for actual fighting, but in a way that wouldn’t leave anyone open to Hercules’s Charge range after being moved by Sersi’s Telekinesis. Zatanna carried Klarion to a large patch of hindering to hide in, just beyond Hercules’ Charge range.

Or so I thought. Klarion WAS in the big demigod’s reach and took both hits of a Meteorite-boosted Flurry! Only Toughness saved the witchboy from instant KO.

Well, the bait was good and taken (though I hadn’t exactly planned it thus). I needed Bulleteer to retaliate, so I took a Running Shot with Frankenstein to ping Spider-Man off Outwit and get my Charge back. Thus re-empowered, Bulleteer would have just the boost she needed from the Kinetic Accelerator to Charge through the hindering (thanks to Unstoppable) with the Meteorite.

But first, I needed a good Regeneration roll for Klarion. Got the best, to land on his best click: Stealth + Duo Attack-granting SP + Probability Control. Nice!

Bulleteer landed her attack, which softened up Hercules considerably for Guardian and Klarion to finish him off. Frankenstein, for his part, was a bit tied up with Ant-Man, Wasp and Spider-Woman but someone managed to tag both ladies to send Spider-Woman running and Wasp off the board.

Paul retreated to his healing Eleha’al Vine and my forces gave chase (Miracle taxiing Guardian ahead and Zatanna carting Klarion). Bulleteer had Spider-Man cornered on his Vine when time was called. I’d lost none and KO’d Wasp, Spider-Woman and Hercules. 1-0.

ROUND TWO

Opponent: TIM

Team: Stone-faced cosmic despots

Thanos (Supernova) +

Darkseid (Crisis) + Outsmart + Protected

=495 points

OK, here was a real test! I picked the Icons park map. At all costs would I avoid the vast killing field in the middle, instead planning to bunker on a rooftop and use a Kinetic Accelerator to perhaps get a first Charge in a Meteorite. But Tim decided to rush me down, basing Bulleteer (and Outwitting her Strength) before she could move.

Had to proceed very carefully here, in order to stand a chance.

1. Break Bulleteer away by plunking Shining Knight diagonally between her and Darkseid.

2. Fly Zatanna to a back edge of the roof where she can see Bulleteer’s eventual attack square —

3. — and so her passenger Klarion can see Frankenstein for Perplex.

4. Hold Frank back a little bit longer to build up one more Opportunist token.

Next turn, Bulleteer picked up the Meteorite, Charged through the hindering terrain and hit Thanos for a solid 4 with the Meteorite. Frankenstein followed with an Opportunist-boosted Running Shot to turn a Probability Control-forced miss into a hit for three damage (thanks to Klarion’s Perplex). To wrap up, I walked Klarion between Bulleteer and Darkseid so the latter couldn’t Outwit the shiny gal’s Invulnerability — the only thing that saved her from swift oblivion when Thanos punched her in the face for 7 damage (natural 5 + Close Combat Expert).

I should have taxied Klarion instead of walking him; I found myself on prime fighting clicks after Darkseid’s counterattack but unwilling to push for it. At least Darkseid took Mystic damage and burned his Outwit on countering Shining Knight’s Flurry.

Thanos got smacked to Regen and then out of the game, as did Guardian. But now it was my whole team on Darkseid, and he eventually fell. 2-0.

ROUND THREE

Opponent: LENNY

Team: Gotham

Batman (Arkham Asylum chase #99) + Opportunist

Batman (Arkham Asylum)

Nightwing + Contingency Plan + Takedown

Batman (Justice League)

Robin (Arkham Asylum)

Captain Gordon (Arkham Asylum)

Thanks to his fielding a themed team (Gotham) Lenny won the map roll and picked the Dawn of Time. I played Rushed Assault to blunt his assault. That turned out to be a mistake, as Lenny didn’t take the bait and bided his time WAY longer than he had any need to. Meanwhile, my outgunned team simply could not afford to waste a single attack on the Rushed Assault penalty, especially knowing that then nothing would slow the Bats from whaling on me. So we literally went at least 40 minutes of the 50-minute game without making any attack rolls.

I really wanted to chide Lenny for waiting so long. With Perplex, a full Contingency Plan stock, a team nearly full of double-digit Attack Values and three theme-team Probability Controls (provided he shut off his Bat-Stealth for line of fire first), he really had little chance of missing that first attack. To be fair, though, I didn’t give him easy targets: Mister Miracle with 19 Defense (thanks to Loner) + Super Senses or Frankenstein with Invulnerable 19 DV (thanks to a snatched Tombstone of Lenny’s).

Finally, Lenny took a shot at Frankenstein, who I’d set up ready to attack Nightwing (having forgotten that he had Takedown). The intentional whiff took out the Tombstone, giving Watchtower Batman an easy shot for three.

I gave the game away then, when, to tie-up that Batman, I Perplexed Guardian’s speed to Charge him in a failed attempt (despite having Probability Control). Batman did not fail to Flurry Guardian for the game’s only KO, as time ran out just two minutes later.

In retrospect, then, Rushed Assault was a horrible choice with no way to counter its effects myself. Halfway through the game, I should have broken someone away to threaten Captain Gordon.

WIN/LOSS 2-1. 4-1 total record.

This team looks like a hot mess on paper: only two team abilities, no wildcards to benefit. Only one character with greater than 6 range, and she can’t crack Invulnerability without help. The heavyweight starts with just a 9 Attack Value. Bulleteer is overcosted. At this point level, they seem plain outclassed.

What they do bring to the table is a pair of Perplexers and Probability Control to help out the low Attack Values. A few feats also bring out extra potential:

Opportunist on Frankenstein is superb…you have to hold him back early in the game, but once he starts, the Indomitable monster doesn’t have to stop and those built-up tokens make it hard for him to miss.

Shining Knight is MADE for Double-Time. While Frank’s biding his time, she can taxi either Guardian or Bulleteer in close to a target of opportunity, tying up the foe for a Charge next round. And with her Defense double-Perplexed by teammates, she might survive to push and Flurry (again, double-Perplexed) the next round to finish off or soften up whoever her fare Charges and hits.

Bulleteer + Unstoppable = a surprisingly capable attacker, either as a backup or frontliner. Twice in these games, the feat got her in position to make improbable hits. Invulnerability makes her short dial seem longer.

Loner makes the highly-mobile Perplexer Mr. Miracle nigh-untouchable. If he IS touched hard enough, he gets to take over PC duties from Zatanna.

As for the non-feated, they work out in the end, too. Klarion is a linchpin of the team; his Stealth and Mystic TA protect him from a lot of attacks while his Perplex makes the rest of the team work. He becomes a solid fighter down his dial.

Zatanna serves well to fly him around and help with Probability Control — as well as serving as bait for attacks. That worked out for me as she was able to make Frankenstein more dangerous with her Enhancement.

And Guardian truly shines on this team, as he’s the ultimate clean-up guy, Charging in after Frankenstein has softened everyone up. It’s when I failed to use him as clean-up that he fell.

And so a team I intended to play just for fun has turned out to be a true dark-horse winner. It’s not top-tier by any stretch — the final match showed that — but it’s better than you’d think!

Next post will either be a battle report on today’s “Zero-Range Brawl” — no ranged attacks allowed) or the first of a series of articles on how to build teams to play the controversial Event Dials first released in the Mutations and Monsters set of fall 2007. Keep an eye out for it!

Did they stand or fall in a real tournament?

After largely dominating in a pair of friendly games, it was time to put the Seven Soldiers of Victory through a real test in a tournament.

Hmmmm. Yes, this team was a bit more optimized than the one he’d played last night, with a great lead hitter in Herc and solid support in Sersi (TK) and Spidey (Outwit). Plus he had a themed team and picked the Avengers map. I picked the trench side with a Kinetic Accelerator special object to give me a shot at a first strike with Bulleteer and her Meteorite.

Paul used Spidey to counter Bulleteer’s Charge and thus prevent her getting to Hercules. In the meantime, I needed to get into position for actual fighting, but in a way that wouldn’t leave anyone open to Hercules’s Charge range after being moved by Sersi’s Telekinesis. Zatanna carried Klarion to a large patch of hindering to hide in, just beyond Hercules’ Charge range.

Or so I thought. Klarion WAS in the big demigod’s reach and took both hits of a Meteorite-boosted Flurry! Only a low Meteorite roll and the witchboy’s Toughness on the 2nd hit saved him from instant KO.

Quite the marksman with Opportunist!

Well, the bait was good and taken (though I hadn’t exactly planned it thus). I needed Bulleteer to retaliate, so I took a Running Shot with Frankenstein to ping Spider-Man off Outwit and get my Charge back. Thus re-empowered, Bulleteer would have just the boost she needed from the Kinetic Accelerator to Charge through the hindering (thanks to Unstoppable) with the Meteorite.

But first, I needed a good Regeneration roll for Klarion. Got the best, to land on his best click: Stealth + Duo Attack-granting SP + Probability Control. Nice!

Bulleteer landed her attack, which softened up Hercules considerably for Shining Knight (who’d jumped between Herc and Klarion to protect the latter) from further attack), Guardian and Klarion to finish him off. Frankenstein, for his part, was a bit tied up with Ant-Man, Wasp and Spider-Woman but someone managed to tag both ladies to send Spider-Woman running and Wasp off the board.

Paul retreated to his healing Eleha’al Vine and my forces gave chase (Miracle taxiing Guardian ahead and Zatanna carting Klarion). Bulleteer had Spider-Man cornered on his Vine when time was called. I’d lost none and KO’d Wasp, Spider-Woman and Hercules. 1-0.

ROUND TWO

Opponent: TIM’s stone-faced cosmic duo of despots

Thanos (Supernova)Darkseid (Crisis) + Outsmart + Protected

OK, here was a real test! I picked the Icons park map. At all costs would I avoid the vast killing field in the middle, instead planning to bunker on a rooftop and use a Kinetic Accelerator to perhaps get a first Charge in a Meteorite. But Tim decided to rush me down, basing Bulleteer (and Outwitting her Strength) before she could move.

Had to proceed very carefully here, in order to stand a chance.

1. Break Bulleteer away by plunking Shining Knight diagonally between her and Darkseid. This also would deny Darkseid an attack upon or further Outwit of Bulleteer2. Fly Zatanna to a back edge of the roof where she can see Bulleteer’s eventual attack square —3. — and so her passenger Klarion can see Frankenstein for Perplex.4. Hold Frank back a little bit longer to build up one more Opportunist token.

BANG!

Next turn, Bulleteer picked up the Meteorite, Charged through the hindering terrain and hit Thanos for a solid 4 with the Meteorite. Frankenstein followed with an Opportunist-boosted Running Shot to turn a Probability Control-forced miss into a hit for three damage (thanks to Klarion’s Perplex). To wrap up, I walked Klarion between Bulleteer and Darkseid so the latter couldn’t Outwit the shiny gal’s Invulnerability — the only thing that saved her from swift oblivion when Thanos punched her in the face for 7 damage (natural 5 + Close Combat Expert).

I should have taxied Klarion instead of walking him; I found myself on prime fighting clicks after Darkseid’s counterattack but unwilling to push for it. At least Darkseid took Mystic damage and burned his Outwit on countering Shining Knight’s Flurry.

Thanos got smacked to Regen and then out of the game, as did Guardian. But now it was my whole team on Darkseid, and he eventually fell. 2-0.

Thanks to his fielding a themed team (Gotham) Lenny won the map roll and picked the Dawn of Time. I played Rushed Assault to blunt his assault. That turned out to be a mistake, as Lenny didn’t take the bait and bided his time WAY longer than he had any need to. Meanwhile, my outgunned team simply could not afford to waste a single attack on the Rushed Assault penalty, especially knowing that then nothing would slow the Bats from whaling on me. So we literally went at least 40 minutes of the 50-minute game without making any attack rolls.

I really wanted to chide Lenny for waiting so long. With Perplex, a full Contingency Plan stock, a team nearly full of double-digit Attack Values and three theme-team Probability Controls (provided he shut off his Bat-Stealth for line of fire first), he really had little to no chance of missing that first attack. To be fair, though, I didn’t give him easy targets: Mister Miracle with 19 Defense (thanks to Loner) + Super Senses or Frankenstein with Invulnerable 19 DV (thanks to a snatched Tombstone of Lenny’s).

Finally, Lenny took a shot at Frankenstein, who I’d set up ready to attack Nightwing (having forgotten that he had Takedown). The intentional whiff took out the Tombstone, giving Watchtower Batman an easy shot for three.

I gave the game away then, when, to tie-up that Batman, I Perplexed Guardian’s speed to Charge him in a failed attempt (despite having Probability Control). Batman did not fail to Flurry Guardian for the game’s only KO, as time ran out just two minutes later.

In retrospect, then, Rushed Assault was a horrible choice with no way to counter its effects myself. Halfway through the game, I should have broken someone away to threaten Captain Gordon.

WIN/LOSS: 2-1. 4-1 total record.

This team looks like a hot mess on paper: only two team abilities, no wildcards to benefit. Only one character with greater than 6 range, and she can’t crack Invulnerability without help. The heavyweight starts with just a 9 Attack Value. Bulleteer is overcosted. At this point level, they seem plain outclassed.

What they do bring to the table is a pair of Perplexers and Probability Control to help out the low Attack Values. A few feats also bring out extra potential:

Opportunist on Frankenstein is superb…you have to hold him back early in the game, but once he starts, the Indomitable monster doesn’t have to stop and those built-up tokens make it hard for him to miss.

Horsewoman of this apocalypse.

Shining Knight is MADE for Double-Time. While Frank’s biding his time, she can taxi either Guardian or Bulleteer in close to a target of opportunity, tying up the foe for a Charge next round. And with her Defense double-Perplexed by teammates, she might survive to push and Flurry (again, double-Perplexed) the next round to finish off or soften up whoever her fare Charges and hits.

Bulleteer + Unstoppable = a surprisingly capable attacker, either as a backup or frontliner. Twice in these games, the feat got her in position to make improbable hits. Invulnerability makes her short dial seem longer.

Loner makes the highly-mobile Perplexer Mr. Miracle nigh-untouchable. If he IS touched hard enough, he gets to take over PC duties from Zatanna.

As for the non-feated, they work out in the end, too. Klarion is a linchpin of the team; his Stealth and Mystic TA protect him from a lot of attacks while his Perplex makes the rest of the team work. He becomes a solid fighter down his dial.

Zatanna serves well to fly him around and help with Probability Control — as well as serving as bait for attacks. That worked out for me as she was able to make Frankenstein more dangerous with her Enhancement.

Freeze, POLICE!!!!

And Guardian truly shines on this team, as he’s the ultimate clean-up guy, Charging in after Frankenstein has softened everyone up. It’s when I failed to use him as clean-up that he fell.

And so a team I intended to play just for fun has turned out to be a true dark-horse winner. It’s not top-tier by any stretch — the final match showed that — but it’s better than you’d think!

Next post will either be a battle report on today’s “Zero-Range Brawl” — no ranged attacks allowed) or the first of a series of articles on how to build teams to play the controversial Event Dials first released in the Mutations and Monsters set of fall 2007. Keep an eye out for it!

I won the map roll and picked the World War Hulk NYC map. No battlefield cards or special objects. I hunkered my team behind the elevated trailers and waited as Paul similarly bunkered ehind blocking terrain with only Mr. Terrific exposed.

I knew I had to deal with Mr. Terrific ASAP. His Outwit would be a serious problem and I didn’t want to risk him getting pushed to Stealthed Probability Control. So I was glad when Paul taxied him (with Stargirl) in full view of the field in preparation for Outwitting anyone I put out there. Better still, he didn’t chain the 17 defense value (in Vet Damage) either.

I went for Mr. T, using Shining Knight’s Double-Time to carry Bulleteer and tie-up both Terrific and Stargirl. With most of Paul’s lines of fire blocked by the double-based Knight, I set up my Perplexers to boost her to 18; her Defense was sufficient to avoid all Paul’s attack rolls. A turn later, Mr. Terrific fell to Bulleteer’s heavy-object Charge and Knight’s Flurry.

Shining Knight was the first of my figs to fall (to Wildcat), but then Frankenstein was in the mix, and Opportunist made sure Frank didn’t miss. Dr. Mid-Nite got easy healings on his wounded thanks to JSA lowering DVs to, Hawkgirl’s 12. Fortunately for me, he critmissed once to keep Wildcat from getting back to full.

A wounded Zatanna still showed her worth by using Enhancement to boost Frankenstein’s Running Shot to massive levels and thus ending the threat of the enemy that hit her, V Ray. As Guardian and Miracle polished off Wildcat, Hawkgirl and Stargirl, Ray retreated with Dr. Mid-Nite in vain flight. Brought them to ground for the wipeout having only lost Bulleteer and Shining Knight.

I was so surprised by this performance, I decided to run them in the real tournament the next day. See how that went next time!

Welcome to the first of an occasional series: My Favorite Teams, where I discuss some HeroClix builds I enjoy fielding at every opportunity.

Last Friday, I played a 500-point friendly match with Paul (while all the usual regulars were apparently seeing “Terminator Salvation”). This was my chance to play my Seven Soldiers of Victory team (Grant Morrison’s version)!

Although this is the team almost exactly as it appears in the comics, save Mr. Miracle whose clix is based on the original Scott Free character instead of his former protegé Shilo Norman who stars in Seven Soldiers, it’s not a keyword-worthy themed team since Miracle doesn’t have the Seven Soldiers keyword. This is actually quite appropriate because the team never assembled in one place (indeed, many never encountered each other at all).

…but Ray’s and Hawkgirl’s lacking the Justice Society keyword prevented him from getting the theme bonus. I thus won the map roll and picked the World War Hulk NYC map. No battlefield cards or special objects. I hunkered my team behind the elevated trailers and waited as Paul similarly bunkered ehind blocking terrain with only Mr. Terrific exposed.

I knew I had to deal with Mr. Terrific ASAP. His Outwit would be a serious problem and I didn’t want to risk him getting pushed to Stealthed Probability Control. So I was glad when Paul taxied him (with Stargirl) in full view of the field in preparation for Outwitting anyone I put out there. Better still, he didn’t chain the 17 defense value (in Vet Damage) either.

I went for Mr. T, using Shining Knight’s Double-Time to carry Bulleteer and tie-up both Terrific and Stargirl. With most of Paul’s lines of fire blocked by the double-based Knight, I set up my Perplexers to boost her to 18; her Defense was sufficient to avoid all Paul’s attack rolls. A turn later, Mr. Terrific fell to Bulleteer’s heavy-object Charge and Knight’s Flurry.

Shining Knight was the first of my figs to fall (to Wildcat), but then Frankenstein was in the mix, and Opportunist made sure Frank didn’t miss. Dr. Mid-Nite got easy healings on his wounded thanks to JSA lowering DVs to, Hawkgirl’s 12. Fortunately for me, he critmissed once to keep Wildcat from getting back to full.

A wounded Zatanna still showed her worth by using Enhancement to boost Frankenstein’s Running Shot to massive levels and thus ending the threat of the enemy that hit her, V Ray. As Guardian and Miracle polished off Wildcat, Hawkgirl and Stargirl, Ray retreated with Dr. Mid-Nite in vain flight. Brought them to ground for the wipeout having only lost Bulleteer and Shining Knight.

I was so surprised by this performance (and the team similarly dominated the first time I played it early this year against a Hellfire Club team of Black King, Black Queen, Emma Frost, E Sunspot and Mastermind) that I decided to run the same team in the real tournament the next day. See how that went next time!

This was a last-minute switch from a vague idea of wildcard abuse. I wanted to keep things simple for my first opponent Andy, an almost brand-new player whose collection is very small. But I also wanted to build a team capable of facing down anything my other, more savvy sparring partner would bring to the table. So I spent some time giving Andy a bunch of figures from my trade stock instead of picking out Battlefield Conditions. He was then able to build a half-decent gun-toting swarm:

Punisher (Secret Invasion)

R Tessa

Bishop (Mutations and Monsters)

Maverick

The Hood

E Silver Sable

R Skullbuster

R Skrull Agent

He won the map roll and picked, from my collection, the Rooftops from the Galactus tournaments. Lots of open space, so we pretty much got right into the mix like 19th century armies. I quickly nailed Skullbuster for a solid hit, sending her running, and Punisher didn’t last long under the Kangs’ fire. But then things went well south as a combination of hard hits and Masters of Evil pushing took down both my Rookies and a crithit forced my Vet onto the late half of his dial. Outnumbered and outactioned, Kang…was conquered. Wiped out by the newbie…and this time I didn’t even help him that much! 0-1.

I took the bye and watched (and kibitzed for the new player) until the 3rd and final round against Lenny:

WHAT A GREAT TEAM. He won the roll and put us on the Secret Invasion Crash Site map. Lots of hindering terrain for his Stealthy team, immediately making me regret not picking any Battlefield Conditions for this tournament, because today of all days I would certainly — CERTAINLY — have used Bright Lights. No DOUBT. I used a Dynamostat to give my Kangs a bit of cover, but Fury boosted his own damage to get rid of it and thus keep his main attackers more than free to light up my Kangs. I lost the game when I broke one Kang off to tangle with Winter Soldier but missed the followup attack. Soon I was down to two figures and only had Bucky as a viable target; sure, I could hit Fury easily (13 attack + 2 for Inside Information), but he’d only use his Special Power to warp away and leave Kang the Conqueror wide open for Winter Soldier and Deathstroke’s counterattack. (Perhaps I should have done it anyway, to remove the Brilliant Tactician + Contingency Plan + Outwit combo!) As it stood, I only KO’d Bucky and got wiped out.

Again, this was a superb team. What it lacks in mobility it makes up in range power and protection against same. Fury buffs the team with either his Perplex/BT/Plan combo or with his SHIELD TA (never used in this game), Winter Soldier is the sniper, Deathstroke is eminently able to handle close combat (as well as serve as a 2nd sniper/Outwitter) and Bucky is the bait/tieup. And, on top of all else, it’s a themed team (Soldier), so he didn’t actually have to eat that inconsequential critical miss he rolled, late-game. It’s got no blind spot, really. (Sure, it’ll have problems against a Hypersonic squad, but who doesn’t?)

Looking back on the game, I still had some chances to turn the game around a bit:

–Splitting my team was a poor strategy. Better to have double- or triple-teamed any one of his pieces to mitigate the swarm effect he was able to use on me at every turn.

–Lenny had placed the healing Eleha’al Vine in a very safe nook of the map, and I had counter-placed a Dark Cauldron to nullify it. I regretted that later, as it would have been an ideal spot to regroup and force Lenny out of his Stealthy comfort zones.

–And, again, hitting Fury would have been worth it to get him out of the mix for a while.

Next post will be about one of my favorite comic-accurate-but-not-quite-a-keyword-theme-team, Seven Soldiers as reimagined by Grant Morrison in a megaseries of miniseries a few years back. Keep an eye out!

This was a last-minute switch from a vague idea of wildcard abuse. I wanted to keep things simple for my first opponent Andy, an almost brand-new player whose collection is very small. But I also wanted to build a team capable of facing down anything my other, more savvy sparring partner would bring to the table. So I spent some time giving Andy a bunch of figures from my trade stock instead of picking out Battlefield Conditions. He was then able to build a half-decent gun-toting swarm:

He won the map roll and picked, from my collection, the Rooftops from the Galactus tournaments. Lots of open space, so we pretty much got right into the mix like 19th century armies. I quickly nailed Skullbuster for a solid hit, sending her running, and Punisher didn’t last long under the Kangs’ fire. But then things went well south as a combination of hard hits and Masters of Evil pushing took down both my Rookies and a crithit forced my Vet onto the late half of his dial. Outnumbered and outactioned, Kang…was conquered. Wiped out by the newbie…and this time I didn’t even help him that much! 0-1.

I took the bye and watched (and kibitzed for the new player) until the 3rd and final round against Lenny:

WHAT A GREAT TEAM. He won the roll and put us on the Secret Invasion Crash Site map. Lots of hindering terrain for his Stealthy team, immediately making me regret not picking any Battlefield Conditions for this tournament, because today of all days I would certainly — CERTAINLY — have used Bright Lights. No DOUBT. I used a Dynamostat to give my Kangs a bit of cover, but Fury boosted his own damage to get rid of it and thus keep his main attackers more than free to light up my Kangs. I lost the game when I broke one Kang off to tangle with Winter Soldier but missed the followup attack. Soon I was down to two figures and only had Bucky as a viable target; sure, I could hit Fury easily (13 attack + 2 for Inside Information), but he’d only use his Special Power to warp away and leave Kang the Conqueror wide open for Winter Soldier and Deathstroke’s counterattack. (Perhaps I should have done it anyway, to remove the Brilliant Tactician + Contingency Plan + Outwit combo!) As it stood, I only KO’d Bucky and got wiped out.

Again, this was a superb team. What it lacks in mobility it makes up in range power and protection against same. Fury buffs the team with either his Perplex/BT/Plan combo or with his SHIELD TA (never used in this game), Winter Soldier is the sniper, Deathstroke is eminently able to handle close combat (as well as serve as a 2nd sniper/Outwitter) and Bucky is the bait/tieup. And, on top of all else, it’s a themed team (Soldier), so he didn’t actually have to eat that inconsequential critical miss he rolled, late-game. It’s got no blind spot, really. (Sure, it’ll have problems against a Hypersonic squad, but who doesn’t?)

Looking back on the game, I still had some chances to turn the game around a bit:

–Splitting my team was a poor strategy. Better to have double- or triple-teamed any one of his pieces to mitigate the swarm effect he was able to use on me at every turn.

–Lenny had placed the healing Eleha’al Vine in a very safe nook of the map, and I had counter-placed a Dark Cauldron to nullify it. I regretted that later, as it would have been an ideal spot to regroup and force Lenny out of his Stealthy comfort zones.

–And, again, hitting Fury would have been worth it to get him out of the mix for a while.

We played at the Docks, which made Black Manta VERY happy. Power Man & Iron Fist weren’t pleased with having to slog through the water, though.

Paul got the first points when Scott moved Wonder Man within range of a single target Pulse Wave by Johnny Storm. Scott decided to focus on Paul’s team in general and Sue Storm in particular. “I don’t wanna be swinging at 19 defense all night,” he said. Apart from a shoot-for-the-moon transporter drive-by from Black Manta, I left his two Quintessence pieces alone to tangle with Sue and Co. huddling on or near the Vine on the corner rooftop.

I advanced carefully, keeping Crispus well out of the fray, Cloak & Dagger in cover and Power Man & Iron Fist behind Goliath and others, trying to get an angle on Superman or Wonder Woman in particular.

I at last got a shot at the Man of Steel with Power Man & Iron Fist, but forgot that Fortitude would nullify the Exploit Weakness. Missed, anyway. Then CRITICAL-missed with Crispus Allen. A followup attack with Cloak & Dagger got Lenny to burn his Protected rather than eat even the reduced damage. That opened Supes up for…

…Black Manta!!!! Rolled highly enough to hit Supes’ 19 DV through hindering with Psychic Blast. And as soon as he could move, Superman broke away to the relative safety of the roof.

Yes. It’s true. Superman ran from Black Manta. Like a little girl.

(Well, OK, to be fair, there was also Power Man & Iron Fist and Cloak & Dagger to contend with, so in actuality he was retreating from them as well. But still. )

Goliath managed to tag OOTS Batman (thanks to Scott using his Metron’s Probability Control to give me a reroll or two) but fell to a sniper shot from Paul’s Johnny Storm. Meanwhile Lenny had taken the most points within the initial time limit by KOing She-Hulk and Metron in the massive rooftop melee. We played on since the night was still young and things were getting good. Especially for me, as Power Man & Iron Fist pasted Batman on the way up there.

Because Crispus was on his worst click, I pushed him past it to tie up Wonder Woman and Superman, trusting that Scott’s Ganthet wouldn’t take any opportunity to shoot him. It worked; his Mystics TA is a great deterrent. Unfortunately, it didn’t deter another critical miss, so while he was able to nullify Wonder Woman’s powers nicely, he didn’t do a lot of damage. Indeed, he was taking a great deal of damage, ending up on his last click.

Which brings us to the absolute turning point of the game. Crispus was next to Superman, who had Force Blast and a token. Because Force Blast isn’t an attack, it would circumvent both Super Senses and Power Man & Iron Fist’s Defend (which I was finally remembering to use) while NOT triggering Mystics and slam Crispus into the map edge for knockback damage — and a KO. But Lenny obviously didn’t realize it’d be a knockout blow and didn’t want to push Superman. Crispus was alive — barely.

Cloak & Dagger got to the roof to set up for a followup attack on various targets, using Black Panther as a meat shield. BP soon fell to Paul’s short-range shots. But again, Black Manta dealt serious damage to otherwise hard targets with his Psychic Blast. Between him and my duo figures on the roof I took both Wonder Woman and Superman’s points.

That left Scott’s Ganthet as the major threat on the map. He’d retreated clear to the other side of that end of the map to use the healing Eleha’al Vine that Lenny had placed, and with his Quintessence-granted ability to push and not take damage, he was healing up FAST! But I still had the remains of Paul’s Fantastic Four TA team to deal with — especially after Spider-Man finished off Black Manta before the helmet-clad pirate could get back to the Submerged safety of the water. Fortunately, the only other targets left were very weakened Crystal and Tharok; I made very sort work of them.

Cloak & Dagger used Stealth to creep up on a full-power Ganthet, encouraging the Guardian of the Universe to retreat from their threat of Psychic Blast. That cleared the way for Crispus Allen to make his way to the Eleha’al Vine for his own use, guarded by Power Man & Iron Fist’s 18 Defend. (Yes, they were still on their top click.)

Ganthet perched on a nearby roof for easy shots on Crispus, forcing me to sacrifice Cloak & Dagger, then Power Man & Iron Fist, to stall for Crispus to heal as much as possible before Paul’s Outwit-wielding Spidey could get into the mix. Crispus got back to an Impervious click and then managed to finish off Ganthet and Spider-Man for the win.

Keys to victory

Black Manta with Submerged is surprisingly good. In fact, Black Manta with anything is surprisingly good. His “Pirate” SP gives him just enough flexibility to work around his mediocre stats and make him a threat with his transporter move+attack.

Knowing the dials of friend and foe.

Using opponents’ tactics against them. Paul’s bunkering ’round his Eleha’al Vine drew attention that way, keeping me from being double teamed early on. Later, Lenny’s Vine would prove an advantage for both Scott and me.

Next post, I’ll tell how Lenny cured me of ever playing a tournament again without considering Battlefield Conditions. EVER.

We played at the Docks, which made Black Manta VERY happy. Power Man & Iron Fist weren’t pleased with having to slog through the water, though.

Paul got the first points when Scott moved Wonder Man within range of a single target Pulse Wave by Johnny Storm. Scott decided to focus on Paul’s team in general and Sue Storm in particular. “I don’t wanna be swinging at 19 defense all night,” he said. Apart from a shoot-for-the-moon transporter drive-by from Black Manta, I left his two Quintessence pieces alone to tangle with Sue and Co. huddling on or near the Vine on the corner rooftop.

I advanced carefully, keeping Crispus well out of the fray, Cloak & Dagger in cover and Power Man & Iron Fist behind Goliath and others, trying to get an angle on Superman or Wonder Woman in particular.

I at last got a shot at the Man of Steel with Power Man & Iron Fist, but forgot that Fortitude would nullify the Exploit Weakness. Missed, anyway. Then CRITICAL-missed with Crispus Allen. A followup attack with Cloak & Dagger got Lenny to burn his Protected rather than eat even the reduced damage. That opened Supes up for…

…Black Manta!!!! Rolled highly enough to hit Supes’ 19 DV through hindering with Psychic Blast. And as soon as he could move, Superman broke away to the relative safety of the roof.

Yes. It’s true. Superman ran from Black Manta. Like a little girl.

(Well, OK, to be fair, there was also Power Man & Iron Fist and Cloak & Dagger to contend with, so in actuality he was retreating from them as well. But still. )

Goliath managed to tag OOTS Batman (thanks to Scott using his Metron’s Probability Control to give me a reroll or two) but fell to a sniper shot from Paul’s Johnny Storm. Meanwhile Lenny had taken the most points within the initial time limit by KOing She-Hulk and Metron in the massive rooftop melee. We played on since the night was still young and things were getting good. Especially for me, as Power Man & Iron Fist pasted Batman on the way up there.

Because Crispus was on his worst click, I pushed him past it to tie up Wonder Woman and Superman, trusting that Scott’s Ganthet wouldn’t take any opportunity to shoot him. It worked; his Mystics TA is a great deterrent. Unfortunately, it didn’t deter another critical miss, so while he was able to nullify Wonder Woman’s powers nicely, he didn’t do a lot of damage. Indeed, he was taking a great deal of damage, ending up on his last click.

Which brings us to the absolute turning point of the game. Crispus was next to Superman, who had Force Blast and a token. Because Force Blast isn’t an attack, it would circumvent both Super Senses and Power Man & Iron Fist’s Defend (which I was finally remembering to use) while NOT triggering Mystics and slam Crispus into the map edge for knockback damage — and a KO. But Lenny obviously didn’t realize it’d be a knockout blow and didn’t want to push Superman. Crispus was alive — barely.

Cloak & Dagger got to the roof to set up for a followup attack on various targets, using Black Panther as a meat shield. BP soon fell to Paul’s short-range shots. But again, Black Manta dealt serious damage to otherwise hard targets with his Psychic Blast. Between him and my duo figures on the roof I took both Wonder Woman and Superman’s points.

That left Scott’s Ganthet as the major threat on the map. He’d retreated clear to the other side of that end of the map to use the healing Eleha’al Vine that Lenny had placed, and with his Quintessence-granted ability to push and not take damage, he was healing up FAST! But I still had the remains of Paul’s Fantastic Four TA team to deal with — especially after Spider-Man finished off Black Manta before the helmet-clad pirate could get back to the Submerged safety of the water. Fortunately, the only other targets left were very weakened Crystal and Tharok; I made very sort work of them.

Cloak & Dagger used Stealth to creep up on a full-power Ganthet, encouraging the Guardian of the Universe to retreat from their threat of Psychic Blast. That cleared the way for Crispus Allen to make his way to the Eleha’al Vine for his own use, guarded by Power Man & Iron Fist’s 18 Defend. (Yes, they were still on their top click.)

Ganthet perched on a nearby roof for easy shots on Crispus, forcing me to sacrifice Cloak & Dagger, then Power Man & Iron Fist, to stall for Crispus to heal as much as possible before Paul’s Outwit-wielding Spidey could get into the mix. Crispus got back to an Impervious click and then managed to finish off Ganthet and Spider-Man for the win.

Keys to victory

Black Manta with Submerged is surprisingly good. In fact, Black Manta with anything is surprisingly good. His “Pirate” SP gives him just enough flexibility to work around his mediocre stats and make him a threat with his transporter move+attack.

Knowing the dials of friend and foe.

Using opponents’ tactics against them. Paul’s bunkering ’round his Eleha’al Vine drew attention that way, keeping me from being double teamed early on. Later, Lenny’s Vine would prove an advantage for both Scott and me.

Next post, I’ll tell how Lenny cured me of ever playing a tournament again without considering Battlefield Conditions. EVER.

My plan: Use the Kinetic Accelerator to get Wolvie in the fight at the best moment, Longshot to force re-rolls, and support from range with Psylocke, Colossus and Storm.

Only one opponent: Paul, who fielded the New Mutants:

V Sunspot + Armor Piercing

V Cannonball + Damage Shield + Armor Piercing

V Moonstar

U Warlock

E Magik

V Magma

V Karma

V Wolfsbane

Sadly, his team didn’t qualify for a theme bonus, and he really needed it despite winning the map roll (I forgot to apply my theme bonus to my roll, thinking he had a themed team at first. Double-checking revealed our error). He picked the Prison map to blunt my range advantage. I fielded Bizarro World (appropriate given the X-Men fighting the junior team in a jailhouse) and Paul plunked down Low Gravity.

I moved second turn, getting an immediate long-range shot on Magik with Storm before bunkering in hindering with Psylocke and Colossus. I knew she was in Cannonball’s Charge range but trusted her 19 defense and Takedown combo to protect her. A Kinetic-Accelerated Charge on Moonstar (who’d missed a crucial Psychic Blast at Colossus) with Wolverine failed to boost his speed enough to reach her, leaving him out and vulnerable. Fortunately, her push attempt on him failed as well.

Cannonball’s crithit on Storm was foiled by a theme-PC by Psylocke; though it left her pushed, Storm was saved from damage. That left ol’ Sam tied up by Storm, Psylocke (who Tookdown him in a later attack, knocking him past Impervious) and Colossus (who eventually KO’d him with the Satellite Dish 3D object). Warlock carried Karma in for a Mind Control attempt on Longshot but the lucky guy forced a failing re-roll, and Dazzler took advantage of the Low Gravity BFC to bounce Karma off the walls again and again to KO both her and Moonstar.

When time was called, I’d scored Cannonball, Moonstar, Karma, and Warlock, losing none for the win. We played on and Wolverine was the only X-Man to fall, with Magma being the last New Mutant standing.

This was a fun team, but I really missed Perplex. In a future trial, I may swap out the feats I used in favor of Contingency Plan on one of the Leadership pieces to give the team that extra little oomph.

In this week’s scenario, the build limit was 600 points with all characters having to be either all Teen Titans or all X-Men.

Sadly, his team didn’t qualify for a theme bonus, and he really needed it despite winning the map roll (I forgot to apply my theme bonus to my roll, thinking he had a themed team at first. Double-checking revealed our error). He picked the Prison map to blunt my range advantage. I fielded Bizarro World (appropriate given the X-Men fighting their own junior team in a jailhouse) and Paul plunked down Low Gravity.

I moved second turn, getting an immediate long-range shot on Magik with Storm before bunkering in hindering with Psylocke and Colossus. I knew Psylocke was within Cannonball’s Charge range but trusted her 19 defense and Takedown combo to protect her. A Kinetic-Accelerated Charge on Moonstar (who’d missed a crucial Psychic Blast at Colossus) with Wolverine failed to boost his speed enough to reach her, leaving him out and vulnerable. Fortunately, her push attempt on him failed as well.

Cannonball’s crithit on Storm was foiled by a theme-PC by Psylocke; though it left Psylocke pushed, Storm was saved from big damage. That left ol’ Sam tied up by Storm, Psylocke (who Tookdown him in a later attack, knocking him past Impervious) and Colossus (who eventually KO’d him with the Satellite Dish 3D object). Warlock carried Karma in for a Mind Control attempt on Longshot but the lucky guy forced a failing re-roll, and Dazzler took advantage of the Low Gravity BFC to bounce Karma off the walls again and again to KO both her and Moonstar.

When time was called, I’d scored Cannonball, Moonstar, Karma, and Warlock, losing none for the win. We played on and Wolverine was the only X-Man to fall, with Magma being the last New Mutant standing.

This was a fun and surprisingly potent team, but I really missed Perplex. In a future trial, I may swap out the feats I used in favor of Contingency Plan on one of the Leadership pieces to give the team that extra little oomph. And to be fair, it was the New Mutants I faced. Not exactly heavy hitters!

Next time, I’ll tell the story of how Superman fled in mortal terror of Black Manta.

The weird thing about this match was that well over 90% of all missed attacks — and there were a lot of misses — either showed a 1 on a die or missed by one. Additionally, of the 6 or so Regeneration or Claws rolls I made in the game, all but two were rolls of 1.

Highlights:

I picked the Danger Room backyard and narrowly missed seeing Wolverine immediately pasted by Cyclops’ Psychic Blast due to my unwise placement of the berserker. I soon based Batman on a roof and pushed to hit him. This left him open to Jean’s Mind Control, but she made one of the many misses of the game.

Red Ghost, using Bat-Stealth (and his own) hid on my object to avoid Gambit. I used Gumbo’s double target to blast it out from under him if I missed my primary target, Batman.

Scott’s beat-up Cyclops ran to Paul’s healing Vine at Paul’s suggestion (since Scott is more of a collector returning to the game after a long absence). Perhaps I should have warned Scott that Paul is as crafty as he is nice, as that move sent Cyke far away from his teammates and easy pickings for the hotly-pursing Superman (who, incidentally, would thus avoid Jean’s Outwit and range attack powers).

Batman continually avoided KO by Gambit and Wolvie due to those constant “missed by one” rolls and timely Leap/Climbs away.

Scott was the first out, having taken the brunt of Superman’s might, leaving my hurt Wolverine and Gambit to take him (still on or near his top-dial), Batman and Red Ghost. Those aforementioned bad Regen rolls didn’t help, but I eventually got a solid result to give Wolvie a 2nd wind. Gambit getting hit to Cajun Charm (his short-range SP Perplex) was also key.

The weird thing about this match was that well over 90% of all missed attacks — and there were a lot of misses — either showed a 1 on a die or missed by one. Additionally, of the 6 or so Regeneration or Claws rolls I made in the game, all but two were rolls of 1.

Bizarre.

Highlights:

I picked the Danger Room backyard and narrowly missed seeing Wolverine immediately pasted by Cyclops’ Psychic Blast due to my unwise placement of the berserker. I soon based Batman on a roof and pushed to hit him. This left him open to Jean’s Mind Control, but she made one of the many misses of the game.

Red Ghost, using Bat-Stealth (and his own) hid on my object to avoid Gambit. I used Gumbo’s double target to blast it out from under him if I missed my primary target, Batman.

Scott’s beat-up Cyclops ran to Paul’s healing Vine at Paul’s suggestion (since Scott is more of a collector returning to the game after a long absence). Perhaps I should have warned Scott that Paul is as crafty as he is nice, as that move sent Cyke far away from his teammates and easy pickings for the hotly-pursing Superman (who, incidentally, would thus avoid Jean’s Outwit and range attack powers).

Batman continually avoided KO by Gambit and Wolvie due to those constant “missed by one” rolls and timely Leap/Climbs away.

Scott was the first out, having taken the brunt of Superman’s might, leaving my hurt Wolverine and Gambit to take him (still on or near his top-dial), Batman and Red Ghost. Those aforementioned bad Regen rolls didn’t help, but I eventually got a solid result to give Wolvie a 2nd wind. Gambit getting hit to Cajun Charm (his short-range SP Perplex) was also key.

So that was the weirdest streak of rolls I’ve ever seen in a HeroClix game. Anyone else had bizarre games like that?